Gluten-Free Raspberry Crepe Cake

I’ve been eating crepes for as long as I can remember. My mom was a flight attendant when I was little. When she was home all I wanted to do was spend time with her. And aside from taking my younger brother and I to the pool, what we mostly did together was eat. We lived in Maryland, but my mom is from the south, and she loves biscuits, grits, and pie. My brother and I became fans as well.

I’m not sure how my mom got into making crepes, but she made them a lot when we were growing up. We had them for dinner more often than breakfast, rolled up with fruit and syrup on top. Later on, when I was in my twenties, there was a restaurant nearby where my husband and I went for crepes every weekend. I always ordered crepes that came rolled up, like my mom used to do, with raspberries and whipped cream on top. It was one of the highlights of my week.

After my husband and I had children, we gave up gluten and dairy. It was such a relief to treat our health problems, but also sad, because we thought we would never eat so many of our favorite things again. Our naturopathic doctor wanted us to eat all things coconut (coconut oil, coconut flour, coconut milk), which is why I have now been working with coconut for nearly a decade.

The trick to making whipped cream (dairy or non-dairy) that can support the weight of the crepes and raspberries is to stabilize the cream. Since I strive to use as little sugar (even honey) as possible in my recipes, I stabilize my coconut cream with gelatin. This stabilized “whipped” coconut cream is very strong.

I took my coconut crepes with whipped coconut cream and Driscoll’s raspberries, and layered them to make this beautiful cake. This way we can still enjoy our favorite things, without gluten or dairy.